What's this pipe For?

[Stancoa]

When you walk into my garage, on the left side is my shut-off valve for our water. On the outside wall of the garage in the same area is a plastic pipe sticking out with a 90 degree elbow pointing down. This seems to be draining a lot of water, the lawn has a puddle under it even though my water is shut off (I'm not at the villages full time YET). Somebody told me it was a pressure relief Valve. Anybody have a clue a pressure relief for what? the Hot Water heater has it's own and will drain on the garage floor.

Thanks

[jadebox]

It is the moisture that the Air Conditioner takes out of your house. If it stops draining then you need to worry and make sure it is not clogged up with gook.

[Stancoa]

It's definitely not clogged. We have a Amarillo model and Empty Nest has the thermostat set to 80 degrees and this pipe is putting out a lot of water. There is a puddle underneat and the whole lawn area is saturated with water. Enough that they are concerned and are going to have warranty service to have it checked out. I guess I could use this as an excuse to come back down to TV. I know my wife won't complain. Buying in TV is one of the better things I've done in life. Even my next door neighbor is from Philadelphia and only lived a few blocks away from us.

[Talk Host]

If you have a water treatment system in your house (example Culligan) then once a week it purges the system and dumps water through a pipe exactly as you described. I can run for as long as an hour or two while it regenerates the system. Do you have water treatment?

[Stancoa]

No, we don't have any water treatment.

[Villages Kahuna]

Like Donna Lee said below, I'm pretty sure its the drain that permits the condensation removed from the interior air by your A/C unit to drain outside the house onto the ground. I just had my A/C checked/serviced by Munn's a couple of weeks ago and the technician reminded me that I should pour hot water into the tube inside the house near the A/C coil in your furnace bonnet to make sure the drain to the outside gets cleaned out. He said it doesn't have to be boiling water or even contain any chemicals, just plain hot tap water.

[chacam]

Don't think so. He said it was in the same area outside the wall where his water shut off is. I also have one of these pipes and don't know what it is for. I assume it is a presure relief discharge. And it shouldn't be leaking. It is just outside the wall where the water shutoff is. Many homes have them but some do not.

Our condensate drain is near the condenser and drains constantly when the AC is on.

[Pete]

It is a pressure relief discharge drain, the relief valve regulates the water pressure coming into your house. It is the responsibility of the water dept.. Contact your CDD to get the water dept. to replace it.



Then again it could be the drain from your attic where you put your adult child and forgot he was there.

:beer2:

[chacam]

Why would they put that valve inside the wall behind the drywall where you can't even see it? If it needs to be replaced, the wall has to be opened.

[DDoug]

Best thing to do is call the builder. If this near the condensing unit for the ac then you got it ac drain.That is where it is usually

[Pete]

Another source is the Sumter County building inspectors (Villages Office), they know everything about all the buildings in TV.